From the Editor by Craig Stark #147, 9 August 2010

So - how's business? Based on what I'm hearing from some of you, it has certainly been better; and why is this any surprise? We're in the midst of one of the deepest, most stubborn economic downturns in our country's history, and as if this wasn't enough, we're also at the dawn of a digital revolution that's already adversely affecting the market for print publications. At BookThink we've been encouraging you to at least consider moving away from commodity books (books purchased primarily for content) and instead focus on what has traditionally been called the antiquarian book trade - collected books, that is. Of course, you don't just change clothes to do this. It's a process of learning and applying what you learn over time, and if things at this moment in time are looking grim because your inventory is heavily weighted with commodity books, it might make sense to look for ways to buy yourself some time - specifically, boost sales of those very commodity books to both clear room for the books that will replace them and keep things going financially while you make a transition. Today's feature article, another installment of Selling on eBay, suggests a tactic you might want to consider whether you presently sell on eBay or not.

Also today, Media Editor Catherine Petruccione returns with a third J.C. Hallman interview. This time the topic is one that seems to gain momentum in tough times - utopian societies. As always, I think you'll find Cathy and Chris's conversation intriguing.

Chapter 1 of BookThink's New Gold Edition, a comprehensive guide to online bookselling, will be sent to subscribers a week from tonight - Monday, August 16. If you have questions about your subscription, please email me. Click here to subscribe.

Finally, a question came up last week about our new author reports - specifically if the print subscriptions include both a print copy and a PDF file. The answer is yes. If you haven't subscribed yet, the Sue Grafton report is available. Click here.